“Africa cannot and will not be a testing ground for any vaccine,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization
There are growing concerns about over appears to be the enrollment of 'black people only' on the COVID-19 vaccine trial conducted by Wits University.The University announced that it was conducting Africa's first coronavirus vaccine trial which is funded by Bill Gates Foundation. It was later revealed that the first 8 people who were enrolled on the programme were black people from Soweto township.
It is not clear as to why the University decided to start rolling out vaccine trial using black people from Gauteng townships.
Many have taken to social platforms to express their unhappiness Wits University's approach of enrolling black South African's first on vaccine trial. A hashtag #AfricansAreNotLabRats was created and is being tagged on Twitter and Facebook.
In April this year two French doctors said that Africa should be the first place where corona virus vaccines are tested.
The comments which were aired on live television show certainly did not go down well among the black population in Africa causing outrage among the black natives.
Clearly I don't understand how SA works. There was noise when 2 white doctors said COVID-19 vaccine trials will be conducted in Africa & they ended up apologizing. Now @WitsUniversity enrols only black people on Bill Gates funded trials but people act as if it's not happening pic.twitter.com/2dfC1PisJO
— White Man Confession (@ConfessionWhite) June 27, 2020
The two doctors were accused of racism after a TV debate in which one suggested trials in Africa to see if a tuberculosis vaccine would prove effective against coronavirus.
“Africa cannot and will not be a testing ground for any vaccine,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, said in a press briefing on 6 April.
“On the vaccines issue there was, I think, a comment last week from a couple of scientists who said the testing ground for the new vaccines will be Africa. To be honest, I was so appalled … these kind of racist remarks actually would not help, it goes against the solidarity,” he said.
“The hangover from a colonial mentality has to stop – and WHO will not allow this to happen. It was a disgrace, actually, and appalling to hear during the 21st century from scientists that kind of remark.
Many have expressed disappointment after Wits University went ahead with vaccine trial and rolled it out on black people first.
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